Spelling correctors to improve production and diffusion of linguistic knowledge in Subsaharian Africa

International audience The countries of the Sahel appear among poorest on earth and their rates of illiteracy are very high (83% in Niger, 60% in Mali, 57% in Senegal). However, literacy of the population is an essential factor to develop a country, it thus appears essential to set up strategies to improve the elimination of illiteracy of the populations. We quickly review the recent history of transcription of African languages and the problems encountered in the production and the dissemination of linguistic information and texts. Then we propose the development of specific data-processing tools to capitalize and diffuse linguistic knowledge.